Frederick Donaldson at a Church League for Women's Suffrage meeting in Brighton in 1913 Frederic Lewis Donaldson (born

Ladywood Ladywood is an inner-city district next to central Birmingham. Historically in Warwickshire, in June 2004, Birmingham City Council conducted a citywide "Ward Boundary Revision" to round-up the thirty-nine Birmingham wards to forty. As a result o ...

10 September 1860; died

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, B ...

7 October 1953) was an Anglican

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...

, most notably

Archdeacon of Westminster The Archdeacon of Westminster is a senior ecclesiastical officer within the Chapter of the Royal Peculiar of Westminster Abbey in London. The holder of the post oversees relationships with the twenty-four parishes of which the Dean and Chapter ar ...

from 1937 to 1946.

Life

In 1885 Donaldson was educated at

Christ Church Cathedral School Christ Church Cathedral School is an independent preparatory school for boys in Oxford, England. It is one of three choral foundation schools in the city and educates choristers of Christ Church Cathedral, and the Chapels of Worcester College ...

and Merton College, Oxford, graduating B.A. in 1884. He was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform ...

Deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Chur ...

in 1884; and

Priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...

in 1885. While Curate at

St Nicholas Cole Abbey St Nicholas Cole Abbey is a church in the City of London located on what is now Queen Victoria Street. Recorded from the twelfth century, the church was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666 and rebuilt by the office of Sir Christopher W ...

he married Louise Eagleston: they had two sons and four daughters. After further curacies in Piccadilly Circus and Hammersmith he was appointed

Rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

of Nailstone. He was

Vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pre ...

of St Mark's Church, Leicester from 1896 to 1918; and then of Paston until 1924. He was a

Canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western ca ...

from 1924 to 1951; Sub-Dean, 1944–1951, Steward, 1927–1931,

Treasurer A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The significant core functions of a corporate treasurer include cash and liquidity management, risk management, and corporate finance. Government The treasury ...

, 1931–1951, and

Receiver-General A receiver general (or receiver-general) is an officer responsible for accepting payments on behalf of a government, and for making payments to a government on behalf of other parties. See also * Treasurer * Receiver General for Canada * Rec ...

, 1938–1951. Donaldson was a founder member of the Church Socialist League, and chaired the organisation from 1913 until 1916. He was also an early member of the Christian Social Union, sat on the council of the Industrial Christian Fellowship. He was a leader of a march of unemployed workers from Leicester to London, in 1905. In 1913, Donaldson led a deputation of Church of England clergy to the prime minister, H. H. Asquith, demanding women's suffrage. Being passionate about world peace, he was the president of the London Council for the Prevention of War (1927) and chairman of the League of Clergy for Peace (1931–40).

References

19th-century English Anglican priests 20th-century English Anglican priests 1860 births People from Ladywood People educated at Christ Church Cathedral School Alumni of Merton College, Oxford 1953 deaths Archdeacons of Westminster {{Canterbury-archdeacon-stub